


i thought i'd hold your hand forever (even if you didn't hold mine)

by makemelovely



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: (actually its more like friends to enemies to friends to lovers), Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Girls Kissing, Implied Lucas Sinclair/Mike Wheeler, Mentioned Will Byers/Dustin Henderson, Minor Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Minor Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Pining, billy is arrested, carrie by stephen king is mentioned, cause she and eleven share the same powers, no sexualities are actually stated tho, stupid fights, the party is all gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 08:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14445345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makemelovely/pseuds/makemelovely
Summary: They play house a lot while they’re little. Neither of them are the daddy and they call each other Mrs. Hopper-Mayfield.//or the one where Max and Jane meet and fall in love and a lot of stuff happens in between.





	i thought i'd hold your hand forever (even if you didn't hold mine)

**Author's Note:**

> this was longer than I originally intended but whatevs. anyways I hope you enjoy also in the first paragraph it mentions the abuse billy does to max so that's just in the first paragraph if u wanna skip it

Max is seven when a new family moves in across the street. She watches as a man in a police uniform gets out, and scoops a scrawny thing in his arms. It’s got unruly brown curls and a flannel on that’s bigger than it’s entire body. Max doesn’t realize that it is actually a she until her brother Billy is arrested a week later. Turns out the dude living across the street is the new Police Chief. He comes by after Max tells her teacher that Billy hits her sometimes. He comes by at five o’clock on a Wednesday, and he brings his daughter with him. She wanders up the driveway once she notices Max sitting on the stoop crying. She’s got scraped knees and a big bruise in the shape of fingers on her wrist from where Billy squeezed and squeezed and refused to let go.

 

“Are you alright?” She asks, and from this distance Max can clearly tell she is in fact a she. She’s wearing a dress today, a light pink one that puffs around her tanned knees.

 

“Yes.” Max sniffles when the answer is obviously no. God, can’t she tell that Max is in distress? The girl just stares at her, and maybe she wasn't as thick as Max thought. “No.” She admits in a whisper, vision blurring with tears.

 

“Why?” The girl asks, sitting beside her and grabbing her hand. Max jolts at the contact, but she doesn’t pull away.

 

Max pauses, staring silently at the girl. She’s a little weird, but Max doesn’t know if she finds it unpleasant so she answers her. “My brother is probably getting arrested right now.” She says, and she wishes that she wanted to take it back. She doesn’t, but she hates that she’s just confided in somebody she doesn’t really know. It took her nearly six months to tell Lucas her middle name, and they’d been dating for awhile beforehand. Of course, that was when they were six. They were so much older, and they’d grown apart.

 

“Oh.” She responds, and Max wants to laugh at how underwhelming it all is. “That sucks. I’m Jane, by the way. Jane Hopper. We moved in across the street.” Jane points, and Max nods along. She doesn’t know if Jane changed the subject on purpose or if she just wanted to stop talking about Billy.

 

“I’m Max. Where’d you move from?” Max asks, eager to think about something besides Billy.

 

Jane absently scratched at a mosquito bite, and Max’s eyes dipped down to her pink-orange flip flops. They were cute, and Max stared at her own sneakers. She should’ve put her flip flops on that morning. “Chicago.” She answered.

 

Max gaped at her, surprise bright in her blue eyes. “You lived in Chicago?!” She exclaimed. Jane nodded shyly, and Max almost didn’t even register the way she squinted at the sun, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the cruel sun. Max didn’t hesitate to hand over her sunglasses, grinning when Jane exclaimed happily over the plastic pink glasses. “That is so cool! Why did you guys move here?” Max asked, eager to know why somebody would leave the exciting city of Chicago for dreary Hawkins.

 

Jane shrugged, leaning back on her elbows. “I don’t know. Dad just said it’d be best if we moved here so here we are.” She explained, her elbow just barely grazing Max’s.

 

Was it weird that Max could pinpoint all the places that Jane was just barely touching her or almost touching her? “It must suck to uprooted like that. I’d hate to leave all my friends behind. Are you gonna go to Hawkins Elementary?” Max swats at a mosquito in the dry heat of Hawkins, flinching at the sound of glass shattering in the house.

 

Jane shook her head, and Max’s stomach sunk into her shoes. “No, I’m going to be homeschooled. Maybe someday, though.”

 

Before Max could reply, the screen door swung open and Hopper led Billy out in cuffs, reading him his rights the whole way to the police cruiser. Max watched blankly, and she felt the cold presence of her step-father watching behind her. “C’mon, kid, get in the damn car!” Hopper called out after settling Billy in the back.

 

Jane leaped to her feet, and practically flew to the car. She scrambled inside, and stuck her head out the window to say goodbye to Max. “Bye Max!” Jane shouted, grinning uninhibited at the redhead still sat on the stoop.

 

“Bye Jane!” Max waved back, but it was considerably more subdued than Jane’s goodbye. Max grabbed her skateboard from the sidewalk, and took off. She rode to the Sinclair’s house, and told Lucas about Billy. He held her why she cried, skinny seven year old arms wrapped tightly around her.

 

That wasn’t the last she saw of Jane Hopper, thank god.

 

 

* * *

 

 

They play house a lot while they’re little. Neither of them are the daddy and they call each other Mrs. Hopper-Mayfield. They live happily ever after as wife and wife. Hopper smiles when he hears them, and neither notice the frowns or the disgust in Max’s parents eyes.

 

 

* * *

 

 

When Max is in fifth grade she falls off her bike, and sprains her wrist breaking her fall. She decides that riding bikes is dumb and lame, but maybe Jane would like her bike. It’s blue with a rainbow stripe on the handlebars. So she walks it over to the Hopper’s house, and rings the doorbell. Jane answers, dressed in overalls and a flannel that’s a little big on her. Max’s heart melts, and the smile on her face is soft. “Here. I don’t need it anymore and I’d thought you like it.” Max says to her, smiling shyly because Jane looks so lovely.

 

Jane’s face lights up, and Max will never forget the way it makes her feel. It’s like the whole world is right and nothing can ever be wrong again because Jane looks so delighted.

 

Jane doesn’t know how to ride the bike so Max teaches her. “I’ll never let go of you.” Max promises. She doesn’t mean while Jane is riding her new bike. She means forever.

 

Jane nods, eyes dark and serious. Max thinks that maybe she knows what Max means, and her heart grows a little warmer.

 

* * *

 

 

They turned eight and then nine and then they were in the sixth grade. Max was eleven when she found out she and Jane were finally going to school together. She squealed loudly, flinging her arms around Jane’s shoulders. “We’re going to school together! Jesus, Jane, are you serious?” Max squealed, holding Jane at arms length. Jane nodded, grinning shyly as she faced Max’s beam. “Yes! Holy shit, we’re gonna have a blast!” Max threw her arms around Jane’s neck, squeezing tight as she crushed the smaller girl against her body.

 

Jane wrapped her arms around Max’s waist, face pressed against the taller girl’s neck. She inhaled the scent of her strawberry shampoo, smiling sweetly because life felt  _ good _ . Jane pulls away, fingers deftly sliding up her arm and down to Max’s fingers. She held her hand quietly, imagining that if they were in a movie there would be a swell of music behind them.

 

Max smiled softly, warm fingers pressed against Jane’s slightly colder ones. “You’ll finally get to meet the nerd squad.” Max told her, ignoring the sweltering heat hanging around their shoulders like a cloak.

 

“Nerd squad?” Jane repeated, wrinkling her nose cutely.

 

Max nodded. “My friends.” She explained. “Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and Will.”

 

“Will Byers?” Jane mumbled, her palms slick with sweat. Her heart was racing, and she could still smell Max’s strawberry shampoo.

 

Max’s eyes lit up with surprise. “Oh, you know him?” She asked in confusion. Jane didn't get out a lot so how could she know Byers?

 

“Hop likes Joyce.” Jane said slowly, finally dropping Max’s hands.

 

Max ignored the pang of disappointment in her chest, and instead glanced at the green plastic watch on her wrist. “I have to go.” Max muttered, scuffing the toe of her sneaker on the concrete sidewalk. “The Party is meeting at the arcade at five.”

 

Jane nodded seriously, dismissing the ache in her heart. She knew Max hadn't meant to hurt her feelings by excluding her, but that didn't lesson the smart in her chest. “Hop told me to be at home at five, so.” Jane wrapped her skinny arms around her stomach, and she met Max’s eyes even as the lie left her lips.

 

Max smiled, and Jane couldn't help but think it looked a little fake. “Cool.” Max ran inside and grabbed her skateboard before sprinting back to Jane. She flung her arms around Jane and inhaled the strange combination of coconut and vanilla. Max rolled away, off to her friends and away from Jane.

 

Jane ran inside, letting the door slam shut behind her. She flung herself at the window, peering through the slits in the blinds. She watched Max skate away, and stared long after the girl with flaming hair had gone out of view. She remained motionless at the window, even as her feet started to go numb and her legs began to ache. “Kid, we’ve got to talk.” Jane jumped at the sound of Hopper’s voice, whipping around to see her guardian standing there, a frown on his face and something like guilt in his brown eyes. Jane nodded mutely, wandering over to the couch and collapsing on it. She drew her knees up to her chest, pressing her face against her knees.

 

Jane stared at Hopper until he got the hint and began to talk. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go to school.” Jane’s whole world ended.

 

“You promised.” She reminded him faintly, the words sounding as if they were spoken a million miles away.

 

Hopper blinked, shame hidden in his face. He was the father, he had to appear stern or else she’d walk all over him. “Yeah, well, it’s not gonna happen.” He told her, ignoring the part of him that urged him to reconsider.

 

Jane looked up finally, tears brimming bright in her eyes. Hopper sucked in a breath, his stomach turning. It was like he had been hit with a fucking truck. “But you promised.” She repeated, something sharpening behind the sadness.

 

“Things change.” The words felt bitter on his tongue.

 

Jane saw red. “You lied! You’re a liar!” She hissed, voice low and eyes flashing.

 

Hopper shook his head, firmly setting his jaw. “I didn’t lie, kid, okay?”

 

“You did lie! You told me I’d get to go to school with Max. When am I supposed to go? Never?! I can’t just stay inside all day like some kind of mutated freak. I don’t need to be kept like a dog, like some pet! I want to go to school.” Jane ranted, using her rage as a stepping stool. “You just want me to be some kind of shut in, don’t you? You want to keep me hidden away from the world just like Papa!” The words burst from her lips like a volcano erupting, hot and wild. They burned away the room around them until they were drowning in molten fire and choking on ash.

 

Hopper flinched back, mumbling a wild “ _ No! _ ” that Jane capitalized on.

 

“You are like Papa!” She shrieked, flinging herself from the couch to the other side of the room. She hovered in the hallway, standing firmly even as her eyes flickered to her bedroom door.

 

“I am  _ nothing  _ like that sick, psychotic, son of a bitch!” He roared, anger sparking to life under his skin. It burned his veins and made his skin flicker red. “Do not ever compare me to that asshole again!” He seethed, genuine rage pouring off him in waves. There was a hint of sadness, of understanding, hidden in his heart but it wouldn’t make an appearance in this fight.

 

Jane raised an eyebrow defiantly, ignoring the prick of uncertainty poking at the back of her mind. “Papa is better than you.” Jane told him, knowing it was a lie and allowing it to be said anyways. Hop saw red, and Jane escaped to her bedroom. She slammed the door behind her, locking it and pushing her rickety old dresser and bed in front of the door as a blockade. A back up plan, of sorts. She pushed the window open, glanced around her bedroom, and slipped outside.

 

She ran all the way to the arcade, watching for Max’s red hair. She spotted her breaking away from a group of boys, but she didn’t focus on them. She only had eyes for Max. She followed Max to the bathroom, sliding into the thankfully empty room. She grabbed Max’s wrist, smiling as Max’s face twisted with anger before turning to one of surprised delight. “Jane! What’re you doing here?” She asked, gently withdrawing from Jane.

 

Jane chewed her lower lip thoughtfully, wondering if Max was actually happy to see her. “I can’t go to school with you.” She blurted, wincing at the immediate change in Max. Her blue eyes glistened with disbelief and tears, but the worst part was the way her body language shifted to something colder. More disconnected, perhaps.

 

“But you said you were.” Max reminded her, face contorting as Jane reached out to grab her hands. She twisted away from Jane, ignoring the hurt blooming in her own heart once Jane’s face fell. “We had our schedule planned out and everything.”

 

“I can’t go.” Jane tells her. She opens her mouth to tell Max about the fight with Hop, her past, everything.

 

“Yeah, well, fuck you.” Max snaps, the words feeling strange and foreign. “I don’t want to see you anymore, Jane.” She spits out through gritted teeth.

 

“Wait, Max-” Jane calls desperately, her eyes wide.

 

She expects Max to whip around and shout, but she doesn’t. “I don’t want to be friends with a  _ liar, _ Jane. I’m sure you understand. And if you don’t, well, pretend you do. You’re pretty good at that.” Max says coldly, and she leaves the bathroom, but, more importantly she leaves Jane.

 

It may seem ridiculous to an outside perspective, but Max can sum up her feelings pretty well. If Jane had been lying about that, then what else has she been lying about?

 

The Party asks on the first day of school. “Where’s Jane?”

 

Max shrugs nonchalantly, ignoring the twinge of pain from a fresh wound. “We grew apart, I guess.” And that’s that.

 

* * *

 

 

It doesn’t become a problem until Jane joins their class in Freshman year. She and Max haven’t spoken in four long years, and the time apart has allowed Max’s resentment to grow. She hates Jane, but she doesn’t dwell on it unless she’s alone in her bedroom peering out the window to get a glimpse of the girl across the street.

 

Jane meets a boy with freckles, pale skin, and dark eyes and she supposes she’s falling in love. They’re in English class, and they’re chatting about their favorite classical books. “I like Lord of the Flies. I think it’s an interesting commentary about society.” Jane shares as they talk. There is five minutes until the bell rings, and it’s enough time to fall in love. “What about you?” She asks, eager to learn more about this intriguing boy who looks very pretty.

 

“The Great Gatsby. It was my sister’s favorite, so when we were young my mom would read it to us. Nostalgia, and all that.” He laughs, grinning messily at her. He’s wearing a dorky sweater vest, and Jane thinks he looks kind of cute. “What’s your name?” He asks her.

 

“Eleven.” Jane answered without a beat, her face paling once she realizes what she’s done. “You?” She clears her throat awkwardly, 

 

“Mike Wheeler. Eleven isn’t actually your name, is it?” He asks hesitantly, running a hand through his mess of black hair.

 

Jane shakes her head, thankful for the out. “No, my name is actually Jane. But I like to think of Eleven as a nickname.”

 

“Can I give you a nickname for your nickname.” Jane considered him, eyes narrowed with concentration before she shrugged. “El. Short for Eleven.”

 

They made plans to sit together for lunch, and Jane mentally squealed at the thought of eating lunch with a friend. Jane followed him, heart happily bumping against her ribs. Her heart stopped in her chest once she saw who was at the table.

 

“Guys, this is El. El, meet the Party.” Mike introduced them cheerfully.

 

Jane stared at Max, and all she could think was  _ Max looks so beautiful, holy shit. _ Max was wearing high waisted jeans that Jane could just tell hugged her ass incredibly well and a striped crop top which showed off a strip of her flat stomach and converse shoes which were kind of ratty. Her green jacket was unzipped, and she was practically sitting in the lap of a tall, skinny black guy wearing a track jacket. “Hi.” She breathes out, feeling like she’s floating in a black hole of wrong choices.

 

Max stares at Jane all through lunch, ignoring the way her stomach twisted itself into knots. She turned suddenly, kissing Lucas square on the mouth. She shoved her tongue in his mouth, feeling a vengeful spark in her mind when she opened on eye and met Jane’s eyes. Jane was wide eyed, and her mouth had fallen open. She was blatantly staring at Max, and Max hated that she cared.

 

“Could you two just get a damn room? Jesus.” Dustin griped, frowning as he swiped a fry from Lucas’s tray. Lucas made a noise of complaint against Max’s mouth, and Max laughed as she pulled away. She didn’t miss the spark of pain in her eyes, but she did ignore the pain mirrored in her eyes. 

 

* * *

 

 

“I want you to leave me and my friends alone.” Max corners Jane on a Thursday in the library, towering over the brunette in the library stacks.

 

Jane’s fingers lose their grip on her book, and Carrie by Stephen King slips through her fingers and hits the carpeted floor with a dull thud. “What?” Jane asks, voice thick.

 

“I want you to leave us alone.” Max repeats, although she looks slightly unsure now.

 

“No, what? No. Max that’s ridiculous.” Jane sputters, ducking down and grabbing her book. She snatches it from the ground, and shoves past Max, spitefully thinking that it’s what the redhead deserves.

 

Max follows her, hounding her even as Jane passes Mr. Jarold her student id. “Jane, you can't just pop back into my life whenever you please. It’s disruptive, it’s distracting and, and-”

 

“And it isn't about you.” Jane finished for her, rolling her eyes and breathing a thank you to the librarian.

 

Max freezes in her place, but just as quickly she chases after Jane. “If it isn't about me then why did you show up at  _ my  _ lunch table?” Max asked triumphantly, arching an eyebrow. She was confident that she was right, and she’d stake her life savings on nailing Jane.

 

Jane spun around, hugging Carrie to her chest. Even as she clutched that book for dear life she appeared intimidating. She took one step forward, and instinctively, Max took one step back. “Mike and I have English together. We were talking, he invited me to sit with him at lunch, I accepted, and here we are. Not everything I do is an attempt to hurt you, Max. I’m not that petty.” Jane sighed, exhaustion outlined in her face.

 

Max nodded silently, and she turned to escape the library. “By the way, Max, I’d be willing to forget the past and live in the present.” Jane calls after her. It’s an offer of friendship, of peace. It’s an offer that Max doesn't want to refuse, and yet she does.

 

“Sorry,  _ El _ , I’m afraid I’m late for history.” She says this because she hates the way Jane looks at Mike. Like he’s some kind of marvel, an undiscovered gem of sorts. She says this because she can just tell that Mike is going to ask her out at some point and the thought makes Max feel sick. She says this because Jane looks  _ so goddamn beautiful  _ it makes Max want things she shouldn't. It makes her want to hold Jane’s hand, and cuddle on the couch while watching shitty horror flicks, and kiss. She says this because maybe pushing Jane out of her life was the worst mistake she’s ever made and the thought is terrifying.

 

Jane watches Max stalk out of the library, and imagines that everybody can see the bloody, gaping hole in her chest from where Max reached right in and ripped out her heart. She wants to cry, but she doesn't because she has health next period and the teacher is a real bitch. Not bitchin’ but but a bitch. Jane kind of wants to call Max a bitch, but she’s never been anything less than bitchin’.

 

* * *

 

 

Max sits silently in pre-algebra, fingers closed in a tight fist. Jane sits in front of her, thumbing through Carrie as Ms. Prince scribbles equations on the board. Max watches her carefully, paying more attention to her ex best friend than to the lesson at hand. She watches the gentle sway of her hair, little brown curls brushing against her skin as she shifts in her seat.

 

Jane flips a page, engrossed in Carrie. It was so interesting. A telekinetic teenager who was powerful enough to enact her revenge on the horrible students who bullied her mercilessly. She doesn't even register that her name is being called. “Jane!” Max hisses, leaning forward and jabbing her pencil’s eraser into Jane’s neck.

 

Jane flinched, jerking her head up. Half the kids in the class were blatantly staring at her causing Jane’s cheeks to flush. “What?” She mumbled, eyes wide.

 

“You have to go solve problem three on the board along with Troy and James.” Max explains, ignoring the small smile Jane gives her in response. Jane walks up to the board, hands and legs shaking. She scribbled an answer to the problem, circling it with her green marker and fleeing back to the safety of her seat. “Holy shit, Jane. If you can do math that well then why are you in pre-algebra?” Max whispers, smiling with her eyes at Jane. It’s an unconscious reaction, something long buried rising up from the pit of her stomach to swell in her throat and in her eyes. It’s a tad overwhelming, if she’s being honest.

 

“I’m also in algebra. I need three math credits to graduate so I’m doing two this year and then I won't have to do any math in junior or senior year. Well, if I choose not to.” Jane whispers back, heart bumping clumsily against her ribs. Max looks at her, and Jane looks back. Something electric sparks in the air around them. Tension builds in the way Max looks at her; raw and naked and emotional.

 

Max looks away, and the connection is shattered. Jane tries not to feel too disappointed.

 

* * *

 

 

It isn't suddenly all better. They still fight and fume and resent each other with everything in their hearts. It takes time and trust and care to rebuild the friendship they once had. Max still spits toxic words, words fueled by hatred and hurt. Jane still blames herself, and there are no flowery words that’ll make her feel better.

 

They rebuild their friendship, and then it all comes to a head one summer day by the lake.

 

Jane is wearing a pink swimsuit. Her skin is tanned, and her dark curly hair is slicked back by water. She’s lying across a large rock, idly carding her fingers through Max’s hair.

 

Max is wearing a navy blue bikini, and she’s wearing her promise ring. Lucas had given it to her in tenth grade, and Max hasn't taken it off since. “Do you ever wonder what would have happened if we would’ve stayed friends?” Max wonders aloud, tilting her head and craning her neck so she could meet Jane’s eyes. Her eyes keep drifting between Jane’s eyes and lips.

 

“All the time.” Jane replies softly, and her breath catches at the intensity in Max’s blue eyes. She waits to see if Max’ll make a move, but then the redhead settles her head in Jane’s lap and she heaves a sigh. She gently slides out from under Max, laying her head on the warm rock. She climbs up a small cliff, breathing in the scent of the lake and allowing the sun to soak into her skin. She feels warm, and like maybe Max is watching with careful eyes. She breathes in, out. Then she leaps with a scream tearing from her throat as she falls.

 

* * *

 

 

Jane doesn't just wake up one day in love with Max Mayfield. It isn't some kind of grand realization in the middle of the night. She doesn't jolt awake with a thirst that’ll only be sated by Max Mayfield in her arms. It doesn't happen like that.

 

It’s the middle afternoon and Max is laughing and a beam of sun falls across her and makes her hair burn like the brightest flame alive. Realizing that Jane is in love with Max isn't trying on a new pair of jeans, awkwardly walking around as if the flesh you’re in is not your own. No. For Jane it’s like shrugging on your favorite old sweater. Warm. Cozy. Easy.

 

There’s no big defining moment where suddenly everything is different. Everything is exactly the same, and Jane wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

* * *

 

 

Max is straight. She’s heterosexual. Very much so. So why is she having sex dreams about her best friend? Why does she want to fall asleep to the sound of Jane’s steady breathing? Why does it hurt her so much when dumbass Wheeler makes her laugh at the shittiest jokes in the entire fucking universe?

 

It’s a Saturday night, and the Party is at the lake. Max sits in front of the fire, staring into the depths as if that’ll get her an answer as to why she can't stop thinking about Jane’s laugh. Jane streaks by, chased by Mike and Lucas. Will and Dustin are probably in the woods making out. Or, god, doing something more. Lucas slows to a stop by her, moving smoothly to sit next to her. “You alright?” He asks her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Max nods because her throat feels tight and she doesn't think she can speak.

 

She and Lucas stare off into the distance at Mike and Jane, listening silently to Jane’s shrieks of laughter as she darts away from Mike after he successfully captures and tickles her again. “Do you love her?” He asks finally, his own mind on the boy with freckles on his face like constellations. 

 

“Yes.” Max answers with no hesitation. And then “ _ Oh. _ ”

 

Lucas nods, grabs her hand. He squeezes, and she squeezes back.

 

So she’s in love with her best friend. Whatever. It’ll all be okay. It has to be.

 

(Nobody mentions how Dustin and Will emerge, cheeks flushed and a gigantic hickey on the pale skin of Will’s neck.)

 

* * *

 

 

Jane doesn't look at Max differently, and Max hides the fact that she thinks Jane is the fucking moon. Beautiful, and cold compared to the sun’s fiery depths.

 

They don't look longingly at each other, but their smiles falter when their boys reach for their respective hands.

 

It all comes to a head on a Thursday evening at the arcade. Max had just creamed Dustin at a game that he’d been begging her to play with him for at least three months. Max jerks her leg and arms around, doing her weird victory dance. As she’s dancing Max watches Jane slink into the bathroom. High off the (easy) victory of kicking Dustin’s ass she follows Jane to the bathroom.

 

“Max? What-” Jane opens her mouth to say before Max interrupts her.

 

Max presses her lips against Jane’s, kissing the shorter girl with all the force she could muster. Their teeth clashed together, noses bumping almost viciously. Then Jane whimpers against her lips, and they slow down. Their tongues meet, gently sweeping around the other’s lips. Max moans, backing Jane up against the wall and placing her hands on either side of Jane’s head. Jane clings to Max, hands fisted into Max’s red t-shirt.

 

Max pulls away, flushed and panting and lovestruck. “Jane, I love you.” Max confesses.

 

“I love you too.” Jane whispers, beaming. She goes in for another kiss, and she can't wipe the smile from her face.

  
  
  



End file.
